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September 2013
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Star Fleet Universe News
FACEBOOK: Jean continues to improve our page on Facebook, adding many new photos and other features. TWITTER: ADB has recently started a Twitter feed. We are ADBInc_Amarillo. You'll find news as well as links to pictures. Check us out and retweet news of interest to your own followers. We're excited and our first goal is to get 100 followers. Help us reach that, please. VIDEOS: StarFleetGames has taken its act to YouTube and we now have a YouTube channel. Our goal is to create a video for the new product releases during each month. We have "In the Box" videos to show you what you will see when you unpack your new game. We have also done "Spotlights" on a single product or product line. So pull up a chair and join us at the movies! Our newest uploads are: Star Fleet Marines Part 1 STARBLOG: Our StarBlog has moved to a new URL
and all links on StarFleetGames.com websites have been changed to match. The new
site is JAGDPANTHER
Custom Decals for Starline ships Tenneshington Decals is proud to now offer three new decals sets, made to fit the Starline 2500 Federation BB battleship, CB heavy command cruiser, and DNL light raiding dreadnought miniatures.
ONLINE TOURNAMENTS Rated Ace Tournament 41 is underway. Half of the third round games have been played. Andrew Koch is the judge.
Rated Ace Tournament 40 is nearly done. The final round is between Paul Scott and Bill Schoeller. Andrew Koch is the judge. Andromedan Playtest Tournament has ended without a decisive answer. We thank Peter Bakija for organizing this. The FCOL Tournament will be starting this fall. We expect that Jim Dauphinais will again organize this and be the judge. DEMOS AND CONS WITH SFU GAMES A Cadet game introduction to Star Fleet Battles will be held at Impossible Realities on September 13 at 7:00 pm in Kent Theatre, 24 Coburg St, Saint John, New Brunswick E2L 3J5. The following day at 9:00 am, a Star Fleet Battles Cadet tournament will be held. The tournament will continue on Sunday at 8:30 am. L. J. LeBlanc will be your host for both events.
Federation Commander, ACTASF, and Star Fleet Battle Force will be demoed at FoyCon '13 on September 14-15 at Action Games in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Dal Downing will be the Ranger in charge. Their website is here: http://www.foy-con.com/events.html On September 15 Questing Knight Games, UK in Telford will host a Star Fleet Battles Ranger event. Alan Davies will be the Ranger in charge of this. Star Fleet Battles is the name of the game at the annual convention for Council of Five Nations in Schenectady, New York. The con starts at 9 am on October 11 and runs through October 13. Join them for the largest face-to-face SFB tournament in the world. Ken Kazinski is in charge of this tournament.
There will be a Federation Commander tournament at the Honor Harrington Convention November 1-3, 2013 in Greenville, South Carolina. Patrick Doyle will be running the tournament. ACTASF will be demoed and games will be played at Fall-In in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on November 16, 2013. Bill Stec, part of the Mongoose Infantry, will be in charge of these events. Games and demos are being run in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. OKC WarS has games of ACTASF run by James Kerr. You can find them at Hampton Inn Midwest City, 1833 Center Dr., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73110-2810 http://www.okcwars.com/forum or contact them through email: okcwars@okcwars.com Games and demos are being run in Spokane, Washington. They meet every Thursday (may move to Friday) at 2:00 pm and play till 9:00 pm, games open to start every time. You can find them at The Gamers Haven, 2114 N. Pines St., Suites 1 & 2, Spokane Valley, WA 99206, (509) 443-5992 http://www.thegamershaven.net/gamers_haven.php Games and demos are being run in Jacksonville, Florida. They start at 6:00pm and play till 11:00 pm, There will always be ACTASF games open to play or you can learn ACTASF every Friday. Contact Ray at Suncoast Comics, 5509 Roosevelt Blvd., Jacksonville, Florida 32244 904.771.2776 service@suncoastcomics.com Do you want to run demos and promote SFU games? Consider becoming a Ranger! You have the advantage of "growing your own" opponents and of making new friends. Read more about it here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/rangers/index.shtml Download Transmissions HAILING FREQUENCIES: This is our newsletter and will let you know all the news for all our games. You can subscribe here. Have you missed an earlier newsletter? Click here to get caught up! COMMUNIQUE: The latest Communique brings you more Ship Cards, scenarios, and more news from the Star Fleet Universe! It can be downloaded from the Commander's Circle. FC Forum Recent Posts
We are very pleased to see the medals, honor bars, and ribbons awarded to players being incorporated into their signatures. It is exciting to see lots of interesting conversations about a wide variety of subjects. Get in on the activity! While for new players the Federation Commander Forum is a little easier to manage, the original (Discus-based) BBS is where most product development takes place. If you have a proposal you'd like to see worked on, don't forget to make sure it is mentioned here. It also has active F&E and SFB forums where players run campaigns, Rated Ace tournaments and other SFB tournaments are organized (most FC tournaments are organized on the Forum), SVC's "My Day" appears, along with current news and strategies dealing with Prime Directive, and each issue of Captain's Log is created. While less colorful (no avatars or sigs), it is a vital part of ADB, Inc.'s communications. F&E Strategy of the Month With the expansions allowing the building of survey cruisers and additional off-map exploration, the Kzintis face a difficult choice. On their first two turns it is common practice to build a tug and convert a strike carrier on Turn #1 and another on Turn #2, thus maximizing tug production. Since a survey cruiser takes up the cruiser slot (if substituted) or is a major conversion (if converted), it is simply not possible to build all three on the first turn, given the Kzintis only get one battlecruiser build and one major conversion on Turn #1.
However, if accelerated production (431.37) is used on Turn #1 the Kzintis can build all three! They can accelerate the battlecruiser slot from Turn #2 to Turn #1, and since by (431.37) you only have to obey the current turn's build restrictions they can substitute a tug for the accelerated battlecruiser. They can then substitute a survey cruiser for their one battlecruiser build and use their one major conversion to convert a battlecruiser to a strike carrier. The sacrifice for this is that if the Kzintis wish to build a second survey cruiser on Turn #2 (which is desirable to maximize their survey rolls), they must convert it since they will not have a battlecruiser build slot that turn. But on Turn #3 they can make up for that by building a strike carrier, substituting a tug for the battlecruiser build, and converting a second battlecruiser to a strike carrier. (End of F&E Strategy of the Month) A Call To Arms: Star Fleet Tactic of the Month YOU REALLY DON'T WANT TO GO THERE Do you hate it when the Klingons flank your clumsy Federation cruisers, only to hit you from the side where your photons cannot bear? Then it might be time to play games with the Klingon player's head.
Keep some small ships, preferably three battle frigates or war destroyers, to the rear and one side of your cruiser line. Normally you would move your small ships first, saving your cruisers until they can line up a photon target. Instead try moving a cruiser or two into an exposed position for the Klingon to flank them. Make sure they use the Boost Shields! special action. It is possible the Klingons will sense a trap, and move more small ships first to force you to commit your small ships before moving his cruisers. In this case you have a choice. You can have your small ships stay together, use the Overload! special action, and move them closer to the cruiser line but stagger their fore arcs (say 12 o'clock, 10 o'clock, and 9 o'clock). If the Klingon tries to flank anyway, he takes some overloaded photons or he stays out of the small ships' forward arcs. This is called "area denial." Or you might send your small ships off to the side in a J-turn hoping to get behind some unsuspecting Klingon, but this is somewhat risky, as he may just turn and beat up your small ships instead of the cruisers. If the Klingon is unwary, he may take the bait and try to flank your cruisers at close range. If he is within 12 inches of your small ships, use the Overload! special action and move up on his flank and let him have it. Three battle frigates/war destroyers with overloads can kill a typical Klingon cruiser easily, or can cripple a heavy battlecruiser. Sometimes the threat of overloaded photons can encourage the Klingon to change his movement plans to avoid an obvious trap. Or you can set up a trap and plan to take advantage of him seeing it and reacting to it. At the least it has him reacting to your moves, which is never a bad thing. (End of A Call to Arms: Star Fleet Tactic of the Month) Demotivationals Throughout the month our graphics director places on the website various cards called Demotivationals. These are like postcards with an image and a phrase that is often used for humor. Pirate's Life To see our previous Demotivationals click here. Mini of the Month Starline 2500 Gorn BCH
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New Releases Communique #93 has been posted to the Commander's Circle. Click here to see our previous issues of Hailing Frequencies. Recently Released To be released in 2013 PDF SALES: ADB, Inc. continues its relationship with Steve Jackson Games and their e23 Warehouse. We chose e23 because they have a philosophy that agrees with ours -- our customers are honest and honorable and wouldn't aid people who want to steal our products. Furthermore, we know from experience how devastating a computer crash can be and want our customers to know that they don't have to worry about the loss of their e-products bought through e23. What do we have there? We have created a new page that allows easy access to our PDFs for sale on e23. From here you can see what we currently have posted and have links to those products. RECENTLY RELEASED ON e23 Star Fleet Fiction Gymnasium, Lyran CW Doomward, 11 January Y168
Captain Thr'Uule looked at the pool aboard the Doom Star Ship Doomward with distaste. It wasn't that engineering beat his team from navigation at water polo every time so much as the prospect of getting his fur wet that irritated him. Even with the sonic dryer and blowers, his pelt would still feel wet for hours. Lyrans and swimming are not strangers, but Captain Thr'Uule, from Krrm'Ct, had the dislike of any desert native for water hazards. He was still trying to remember why a ship-wide water polo tournament between the various departments seemed to be a good idea when Senior Lieutenant Drrrn'Al proposed it a month ago. Given the engineers' uncanny swimming skills, he suspected ringers. With a toothy grin he made a mental note to place a favorable comment into his file. Such clever foresight should be rewarded. Two hours later he was sitting at his desk in his office idly combing out his matted underpelt while scowling at the new regulations on inspection and decontamination of Wroon beast carcasses before accepting them as rations. The spirits only knew what mischief required a fleet-wide advisory to be broadcast and him to certify that it had been implemented. When the shipcomm whistled at him on his private line, it was a relief. "Captain, incoming message from sector control. Shall I put it through to you there? It is in code X21 2a. We have decoded it, and the checksums are correct." "Yes, Ensign," he replied. Maybe this would be something more exciting than patrolling the WYN-Lyran-Klingon border. And a message in such a low-level code with a 2a priority HAD to be interesting. From: Northern Fleet Area Operations Desk To: Doom Star Ship Doomward Re: Scientific Mission, Priority 2a Doomward is to make best speed to rendezvous with the Foremost Ship Shadow of the Hunter, now en route to Sector 31, to cross-load special mission personnel and equipment. Proceed then at your best cruising speed consistent with prudence to Sector 31 to investigate a spatial anomaly. Be advised the anomaly is not stationary and is presently being monitored by FS Police Ship Thiefbreaker, coordinates last known to be 31: 04-81-61. At your discretion, you may release Thiefbreaker for regular patrol duties. You are authorized to draw fuel and supplies from Shadow of the Hunter under the voucher code supplied. Doomward is to monitor the region and cooperate fully with Foremost Naval Science and Engineering Special Investigation Team #1 until relieved. They are not allowed to override your command authority, but you are to pay all due regard to their needs and requests. Re-supply as needed to stay on station is authorized; use voucher number CMP-SIUHF32. A fleet supply ship will be dispatched in two weeks unless earlier supply is requested or you cancel resupply. Use operational code denaf. Rules of Engagement Level 3 is in effect.
Be advised, this anomaly is believed to be a spatial rift of the vortex inversion type, so approaches closer than fifty thousand kilometers are only to be made as operational necessity dictates. See file code # LHGFIUSGDIU 23 for further data on probable anomaly type. Admiral Frn'Nlf, Fleet Operations Commander, Northern Areas Captain Thr'Uule first looked at his position plot and estimated that he had at least ten hours before he was to be on station. No reason to panic or mess up the rest schedule of his crew. ROE 3 meant that he had discretion to engage at will (even aggressively) to deal with the situation and maintain control. Priority 2a meant he was to consider his ship's survival secondary to the accomplishment of his mission. Hopefully, another ship would be taking over his patrol route. Thr'Uule hit the Officer of the Deck direct line. "Bridge, this is the captain; take a heading at best sustained speed, with minimum non-emergency reserves, to Sector 31 and get a rendezvous set up with Shadow of the Hunter on operational code denaf. Implement any necessary course change and notify me as soon as we have a route chosen. I want the command team to meet me in my office for a briefing in two hours; give them the message so they are prepared to discuss the mission and propose operational methods. If any of them are asleep, let them have another hour. "I also want the message I just received reviewed by all officers and petty officers level 4 and above upon starting their watches. Have the science team start reviewing the reference in the message now and be prepared to give a command briefing in two hours. We will have an all-hands briefing in six hours." "Transmit an advisory to the squadron commodore that we have had our patrol preempted by Northern Area Fleet Operations for an undetermined period. Enclose our current status and intel updates. I will also compose a personal note to him for separate transmittal under squadron code five. Have the quartermaster figure out where we are going to bunk and mess a group of naval science supercargo and their stuff. Oh yes, and reply to the Admiral that we are en route." "Aye aye, Captain. We are now coming around to 35.6 mark 7 at warp 6.3. Our rough ETA is ten hours and twenty minutes." Thr'Uule noted that the officer of the deck, Senior Lieutenant Murri'Tra, had presumably read the message (as it was not in the captain's personal code or classified) and planned to execute his probable orders. Exactly as a good subordinate should, she had anticipated his orders and then waited for him to make his decision. Again, he made a mental note for the upcoming officer reports. Mike Kenyon asks: Rule (J1.635) says that enemy shuttle launches are part of the same rate as friendly launches (not landings) on a ship. If I have an enemy shuttle aboard and both of us want to launch on Impulse #4, who does? Does the host ship or the enemy get right of way out of the bay?
ANSWER: I sent this to Kommodore Ketrick who replied: This is one of those obscure questions that hardly ever comes up (so it does not seem to have a previous answer), but apparently it now has come up. There are other considerations. Yes, rule (J1.634) is pretty specific that enemy shuttles landing aboard a ship do so at their own rate and irrespective of the rate of the ship they are landing on. Thus Andy Vancil could launch or land a shuttle from his ship on the very same impulse that you are landing aboard it. Your shuttles are, of course, then governed by (J1.52), i.e., they cannot take off for at least eight impulses (same, of course for Andy's shuttle). So the crux does become that at least eight impulses previously you landed a shuttle in Andy's bay. Now both your shuttle and one of Andy's shuttles are trying to leave the bay, and under (J1.635) the "normal rules" apply, so only one shuttle can take off. We are assuming a normal bay, no Catastrophic Damage Impending Destruction, no minelaying, etc. Toss a coin. Or roll a die, odds you get to launch, even he gets to launch.
Josh Driscol asks: On Impulse #1 of Turn #3 a voided wild weasel is recovered by tractor. Is the first opportunity to begin charging the shuttle as wild weasel again with reserve power Impulse #2 of Turn #4? ANSWER: You have to service the shuttle (one deck crew action) before you can begin preparing it for another mission. It has been previously ruled (Captain's Log #32) that you cannot apply power to start arming it until it has been serviced, even though it is going to be used for the same mission. However, if both your informal deck crews are available, you could put them both to work on the shuttle (starting on Impulse #2 of Turn #3), and have it ready to start charging (with reserve power) on Impulse #18 of Turn #3. You could then launch the wild weasel as early as Impulse #18 of Turn #4. Follow-up Question: If the ship were Hydran and it used two deck crew actions on the shuttle after recovering it, could it be started with reserve power on Impulse #17 of Turn #3? ANSWER: As noted above, anyone could do this, but since you cannot start servicing the shuttle on the impulse it lands (J4.8172), you would have to wait until Impulse #18 of Turn #3. Follow-up Question: In Module T-2000 it says that deck crews can repair fighters but not administrative shuttles. Can they even be used to service admin shuttles in a tournament game? Obviously deck crew repair of fighters and reloading fighter weapons rules are used, but the rules in (J1.865) - (J1.869) use deck crew actions for servicing admin shuttles also. Without deck crews how do the other empires' tournament ships get their admins serviced? ANSWER: The restriction is on repairing, not servicing. Deck crews (formal or informal) can service shuttles, including unloading a scatter-pack, reactivating the weapons on an inert or aborted suicide shuttle, etc. (End of Ask Admiral Vanaxilth)
F&E Q&A THE KESTREL SUPPLY SYSTEM Q: There is confusion about rule (442.8), the one about the Romulans getting more KR spare parts. The wording of the rule is said by some to imply that the Romulans can only obtain one turn of parts per turn, while others insist that there is no reason that the Romulans cannot obtain multiple "turns" of supply during each game turn. A: Multiple deliveries can be made each turn, but each delivery requires a separate ship (KRT, SPH, 3FE, Klingon/Lyran tug) and each ship can make only one trip by Strategic Movement per turn. (The "singular nature" of the rule implies one trip, not one ship making one trip.) Obviously, Strategic Movement delivery is limited by available ships, Strategic Movement capacity, and a valid pathway. You can also deliver spare parts by Operational Movement, but this would be much slower and might take multiple turns for each ship used. You cannot "daisy chain" one load of spare parts on multiple ships, each making one six-hex part of the journey, because all movement is (in reality) simultaneous. You can also use blockade running, which has its own rules and limits.
KR parts can certainly be stockpiled beyond the original six turns of parts listed under (442.82). Once the parts are delivered to the Romulan capital, they can be moved to any other Romulan supply point by any of the means noted above. This might be done to supply KR-type ships in separate grids, but in that case, each grid would use one "turn" of supplies each game turn. (End of F&E Q&A) ASK AUNT JEAN Q: Dear Aunt Jean, Are "Redshirts" just plain old security guards with maybe a course in "how to shoot weapons straight"? That would explain why they die so frequently.
A: In the SFU, there really aren't "plain old security guards" aboard a starship. Security is provided by the Marines that are assigned to each ship. They die because they are sent into the most hazardous situations -- and they are sent there because that is what they have been trained to face. As with many of our answers, what you choose to do around your own gaming table is your business and I won't beam in (or send a Marine) to snatch your SFU credentials away from you should you decide things are different in your universe.
Send questions to Jean at design@StarFleetGames.com and SVC will decide which one Jean will answer next. Cool Stuff on the Website In this section we will provide links to various web pages and items that we think you will find "cool". We have also uploaded new Xander wallpapers to our Wallpapers section on the website. We have new images of our next game Star Fleet Marines posted on our BBS topic page. STAR FLEET ALERTS These are the press releases we send to the wholesalers, retailers, and media. You can get on the mailing list for them by asking Marketing@StarFleetGames.com to add you to the list. (Obviously, they are free.) They are uploaded to the Star Fleet Alert page If you can get a close-in shot at a down shield at one hex range, use a phaser-3 [or phaser-1 or phaser-2 down-fired as a phaser-3] with Directed Targeting of your choice. It costs only half a point of power and not only will you have a 50% chance of hitting the systems of your choice, but you will also hit the first three rows, which are always the meaty ones. If you are short on power towards the end of a turn - or even the game - this can be a really good tactic.
(End of FC Tactic of the Month)
SFB Tactic of the Month THE HIT-AND-RUN TOURIST - Cadet George Duffy, USS New York Suppose during a battle, you are approaching a ship with a facing shield that is down, with the ship within transporter range and having no facing weapons charged. Normally you could drop your own facing shield and perform a full set of hit-and-run raids to take out some key systems. Consider this possibility: assign one transporter so you can perform a hit-and-run raid on the enemy's shuttlebay. "My son was my first officer this morning as we flew a Vudar ship to successfully defeat the Sun Snake."
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to teach potential players some basics. 
